Highland Shepherds – Submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event

Merry Christmas, dear fellow composers! This is my second (and „official“) submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event.

It is a Christmas Pastorale played by a small Baroque orchestra with the typical instruments of shepherds, such as flutes, violines, a lute and a „surprise instrument“.

Although the instrumentation is somewhat more colorful or mixed, I think the inspiration from the famous “Sinfonia” from Bach's Christmas Oratorio is easily recognizable.

The piece is based on my Prelude in E major I composed four years ago, already having that Christmas Pastorale style in mind. I’m glad that I now could realize the orchestration and be able to share it in this way.

This was fantastic to listen to! Your first submission was fun, but I feel like this one offers a lot more color and character. Excellent usage of all the instruments. The piece moved along, was extremely focused and had good momentum. I also feel like every note served a purpose. Well done.

I have no words, haha. I absolutely adore the style and the period you inspired yourself with. Plus, seeing all the details in the sheet music is a joy. And the music certainly lives up to it. Thanks!

Hi @Wieland Handke!

Of course this one is more colorful than your first submission, but both are good in their own ways. The first one in a chamber setting is more calm and serene in character, while this one is more "universal" and broader with an orchestral setting. Thx for sharing the second version and submission!

Henry

Hey again @Wieland Handke

I do feel like this one is more outdoorsy and pastorale.  I do hear the Bach quote clearer in this one too.  The Empty Church is much more somber and quiet.  This one, with is full fledged instrumentation is much more joyful and celebratory.  Perhaps this one is meant for the joy of the arrival of Christmas Day, while the Empty Church is meant for the yearning of Christmas Eve?  Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year!

Thank you, again, @chopin@Luis Hernández, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu and @PeterthePapercomPoser for your warmhearty comments!

On 1/1/2026 at 9:28 AM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

... The Empty Church is much more somber and quiet.  This one, with is full fledged instrumentation is much more joyful and celebratory.  Perhaps this one is meant for the joy of the arrival of Christmas Day, while the Empty Church is meant for the yearning of Christmas Eve? 

Yes, this one expresses the joy played by the shepherds on their instruments – even it might sound sometimes a bit weird – and therefore should be related to Christmas Day. The Empty Church, in contrast, reflects the „Silent Night“ before and I love them both although it was not my intention to create two pieces from the material, initially.

On 12/24/2025 at 7:22 PM, chopin said:

This was fantastic to listen to! Your first submission was fun, but I feel like this one offers a lot more color and character. Excellent usage of all the instruments. The piece moved along, was extremely focused and had good momentum. I also feel like every note served a purpose. Well done.

Interestingly, nobody did mention or even dislike the usage of my „surprise instrument“ – the bagpipes. When starting the instrumentation, the bagpipe came around a bit very offending and – yes, I must admit that I have a bit cheated by sometimes reducing their dynamics, while a bagpipe in reality is not able to do so.

After now being a bit focused on that instrument’s sound, capabilities and notation, I was quite surprised when listening to Haendel’s „Pifa“ from the Messiah these days, that I’m feeling that the bagpipes are cited there throughout. After some research to confirm this, I found a very interesting recording of the "Pifa" featuring only bagpipes, and the name "Pifa" itself refers to the bagpipe players – thus realizing that my use of bagpipes in a Christmas pastoral piece, while not original, is all the more "authentic."